POLICE investigating the killing of a Claygate family believe they were the victims of a random attack by "someone who has killed before".

POLICE investigating the killing of a Claygate family believe they were the victims of a random attack at the hands of "someone who has killed before".

The prosecutor looking into the French Alps shootings , which saw Saad Al-Hilli and his wife Iqbal, of Oaken Lane, her mother and a French cyclist, said he was exploring the theory that the killings could have been carried out by an unhinged gun collector or a member of a shooting club with psychiatric problems.

Eric Maillaud is yet to find a motive for the murders of Iraq-born engineer and three other victims near lake Annecy in September.

He said officers were "unsure" whether it was a professional hit, but added that if it was, it had been "very badly done".

Maillaud, Annecy's chief prosecutor, told the BBC: "Without doubt we are looking for someone who has killed before, someone who puts no value on human life.

"We are not sure whether that means it's a professional hit but if it was done on a contract it was very badly done.

"We are looking for unbalanced people capable of extreme violence.

"People who have access to weapons - hunters, collectors, shooting club members - some of whom could have had psychiatric problems.

"We are searching a huge area stretching into Switzerland and Italy - and that includes a large number of people."

Mr Maillaud said it was essential "to eliminate the immediate family" early on in any inquiry.

Engineer Mr Al-Hilli, 50 and his dentist wife Iqbal, 47, were murdered along with her mother Suhaila Al-Allaf, 74, and cyclist Sylvain Mollier, 45, in woodland near the village of Chevaline on September 5.

The Al-Hilli's four-year-old daughter Zeena lay undiscovered under her mother's corpse for eight hours after the shooting, while her seven-year-old sister Zainab was found with serious injures after being shot and beaten.

About 100 police officers in Britain and France are investigating the murders in an investigation which spans France, Switzerland, Italy, the UK, Sweden and southern Spain, where Mr Al-Hilli's father had an apartment.

In the interview, Mr Maillaud rejected speculation that Mr Mollier, the French cyclist who worked in the nuclear industry, was the killer's main target.

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She has been editorial director of the online and print titles in Surrey and north-east Hampshire since 2007. Marnie previously worked at the BBC as a producer for 5 Live, having moved to national radio from BBC Sussex and Surrey.